Magazine fire-arm



(No Model.) t E. WHITNEY.

MAGAZINE FIRE ARM.

No. 247,452. Patented Sept. 20,1881.

dm lll nw l w Nv PETERS Pl'lowL'rlhagrlph UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEO ELI WHITNEY, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

MAGAZINE FIRE-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,452, dated September 20, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be itknown that I, ELI WHITNEY, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented new Improvements in Magazine Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a sectional side view; Fig. 2, a (letached view.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of magazine fire-arms in which a longitudinally-movable breech piece or boltis operated by a lever extended below the receiver to form the trigger-guard, and in which the carrier is operated by the same lever to transfer the cartridges from the magazine to a position in front of the rear open end of the barrel for their insertion into the barrel when the breech-piece is closed, the object being to lock the breechpiece by the upper end of the lever in a movement of said lever after the breech-piece shall have been closed by said lever and the invention consists in the construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter described, and particularly recited in the claims.

Arepresents thereceiver; B, the'breeoh piece or bolt, arranged to move longitudinally backward and forward in line with the barrel 0.

The lever is hung upon a pivot, a, one arm extending downward to form the trigger-guard D, the other arm, E, up into the receiver, the general arrangement of these parts being well known.

To connect the arm E with the breech-piece so that as the lower part, D, is turned downward it will draw back the breech-piece to open the barrel, a link, F, is pivoted by one end to the lever E, as at b, and by the other end to the breech-piece, as at d. The openings in thelink through which the pivots pass are elongated, so as to allow the upper arm of the lever to move upward, as to the position seen in broken lines, Fig. 1, before the link will take its bear ing on the two pivots, b d. From that point the rear movement of the upper arm of the lever will draw the breech-piece backward to open the breech in returning to close the breechpiece. The upper arm of the lever will be re- Application filed July 30, 1881. (No model.)

quired to move forward somewhat before itwill engage with the breeclrpiece, because of the elongated slots in the link, but so soon as the link gets its bearing between the two pivots then the breech-piece will move with the lever until nearly closed. Then the extreme end 0 of the the upper arm, E, of the lever, which is of cam shape. relatively to the pivot a, is forced down in rear of a corresponding seat,f, on the breech, which forces the breech-piece home and brings the upper arm,E, of the lever into a position to resist the recoil of explosion, the slots in the link permitting the lever to so move down and force the breech-piece home independentlyofthe saidlink. The strut-likecharacter of the lever E gives to the breech-piece the firmest possible support.

In order to withdraw the firing-pin, so as to prevent its forcibly striking the primer of the cartridge when the breech-piece is closed, a recess is made in the under side of the breechpass in its forced movement. That end of the lever is forked in the plane of its movement, as at h. The firing-pin, which is of the usual form and arrangement, is reduced in width corresponding to the recess h in the end of the lever, and so as to form a shoulder, t, against which the end of the lever will strike, as seen in Fig. 1, before it begins to move the breechpiece, and hence will force the firing-pin to the rear until the lever makes such engagement with the breech that the firing-pin and breechpiece both move together. While this movement withdraws the firing-pin, it also prevents the firing-pin from being forced forward until after the breech-piece is closed, so that the firing-pin cannot project to come in contact with the primer until after the breechpiece is closed against the cartridge'head.

This arrangement of parts, while specially adapted to magazine-arms, may be employed in breech-loading arms which are not provided with a magazine.

In the illustration, H is a carrier, hung upon a pivot, t, at the rear, and so as to be operated in the turning of thelever to raise the cartridge and present it forward of the breeoh-piece in the usual manner.

I do not wish to be understood as broadly claiming a lever for moving the breech-piece by means of a link, or to lock the breech-piece piece, into which the upper end of the lever will in its closed position neither do I wish to be understood as broadly claiming the retraction of the firing-pin by the movement of the lever which operates the breech-piece, as such I am aware is not new; but

What I do claim is- 1. Ina breech-loadingfire-arm, substantially such as described, the combination of a longitudinally-movable breech-piece, a lever hung in the receiver below the breech-piece,one arm extending downward to form the trigger-guard, the other arm extending upward into the receiver, a link hung by one end to a pivot in the lever and by the other end to a pivot on the breech-piece, the openings in the link through which the pivots pass elongated, so as to permit the lever to move to a certain extent without moving the breech'piece, the end of said lever cam-shaped, and the breech-piece constructed with a corresponding seat, f, onto which the said cam-shaped end of the lever passes after the breech-pieceis closed, substantially as described.

2. In abreech-loading fire-arm,substantially such as described, the combination of alongitudinally-movable breech-piece, a lever hung in the receiver below the breech-piece, one arm extending downward to form the trigger-guard, the other arm extending upward into th e receiver, a link hung by one end to a pivot in the lever and by the other end to a pivot on the breechpiece, the openings in the link through which the pivots pass elongated, so as to permit the lever to move to a certain extent without movin g the breech-piece, the end of said lever camshaped, and the breech-piece constructed with a corresponding seat, f, onto which the said cam-shaped end of the lever passes after the breech-piece is closed, a firing-pin constructed with a shoulder, 1', the upper end of the lever constructed with a recess, h, to pass onto the firing-pin and engage said shoulder, substantially as described.

ELI WHITNEY.

Witnesses:

JOHN E. EARLE, L. D. ROGERS. 

